Tunisia Lockdown Brings Rise in Domestic Violence

Protesters shout slogans during a march, demanding equal inheritance rights for women, in Tunis, Tunisia March 10, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Protesters shout slogans during a march, demanding equal inheritance rights for women, in Tunis, Tunisia March 10, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
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Tunisia Lockdown Brings Rise in Domestic Violence

Protesters shout slogans during a march, demanding equal inheritance rights for women, in Tunis, Tunisia March 10, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
Protesters shout slogans during a march, demanding equal inheritance rights for women, in Tunis, Tunisia March 10, 2018. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

The number of abused women has increased five folds during the quarantine imposed by the Tunisian authorities to fight the novel coronavirus outbreak, Minister of Women, Childhood and Family Affairs Asma al-Suhairi said Sunday.

Between March 23 and 27 a hotline set up for domestic violence witnessed a hike in reported abuse of women.

Suhairi expressed concern that the violence rate would increase if the pandemic-related movement restrictions continue.

Tunisia has since the 1950s enacted laws on the empowerment of women, considered the most advanced in the Arab world. However, the laws are not fully enforced in a country where traditions outweigh laws, and a lot of women don’t report violence to safeguard their reputation.

In 2017, Tunisia passed a firmer law to combat violence against women. It has also dedicated a small number of shelters for domestic abuse victims.

The state has established eight such shelters across the country, Suhairi said.

The minister told the Tunisian press agency that the 2017 law will be enforced in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice. The public prosecution may force the aggressor out of the house for the benefit of the woman and her children.



Israeli Minister Sets Out Plan to ‘Judaize’ Arab Population Centers

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a news conference in Jerusalem, Israel, January 8, 2023. (Reuters)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a news conference in Jerusalem, Israel, January 8, 2023. (Reuters)
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Israeli Minister Sets Out Plan to ‘Judaize’ Arab Population Centers

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a news conference in Jerusalem, Israel, January 8, 2023. (Reuters)
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a news conference in Jerusalem, Israel, January 8, 2023. (Reuters)

Israel's far-right finance minister on Thursday laid out his party's plan to dramatically increase the number of Jews living in two areas of the country with large Arab-Israeli populations.

With elections approaching, Bezalel Smotrich said the plan would emulate what he termed the "revolution" in the occupied West Bank, where the construction of Israeli settlements has soared in recent years.

"Today I present to you the Religious Zionism's plan for the Judaization of the Negev and Galilee: the revolution we carried out in Judea and Samaria -- we will carry out in the Negev and Galilee, and on a massive scale," he wrote on X, using the Biblical name for the West Bank.

His party posted an AI-generated video on X showing two Arab men shouting and crying about the proposed plan.

The Negev, in the south of Israel, and the Galilee, in the north, are regions with large Arab-Israeli populations.

Most of Israel's Arab minority identify as Palestinian and either remained or are the descendants of those who remained in what is now Israel after its creation in 1948. They represent about 21 percent of the country's 10.2 million people.

Smotrich said the goal was "one million additional Jews in the Negev and Galilee, 40 new communities, dozens of farms, expansion of existing communities, and hundreds of thousands of housing units."

"We will cancel the reckless plans in Arab communities, which have taken over land reserves and threaten Jewish settlement in the area," he added.

Smotrich vowed the establishment of industrial and employment zones and said his party would demand the next government "remove barriers and place Zionist professionals in key positions".

Israel is heading towards tight elections to be held on October 27, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu facing an uphill battle.

According to current polling, Smotrich's party, which is a member of Netanyahu's coalition, is just on the cusp of reaching the electoral threshold needed to enter the next parliament.

Israel has since 1967 occupied the West Bank, where more than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements which are illegal under international law. The territory is home to about three million Palestinians.


Israeli Strikes Kill Three People in Gaza, Medics Say

 Palestinians walk past a food-aid warehouse damaged in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a nearby house in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
Palestinians walk past a food-aid warehouse damaged in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a nearby house in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
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Israeli Strikes Kill Three People in Gaza, Medics Say

 Palestinians walk past a food-aid warehouse damaged in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a nearby house in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)
Palestinians walk past a food-aid warehouse damaged in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a nearby house in Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2026. (AP)

Israeli strikes killed at least three Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, health officials said.

Medics said an Israeli airstrike killed one person near Qarara town in the southern Gaza Strip, and another killed a man at a house in the Beach refugee camp in Gaza City.

Another airstrike on Gaza City later on Thursday hit a motorist, killing one person, they said.

An October 2025 US-backed ceasefire halted major fighting in the shattered territory, but it failed to end strikes by the Israeli military, which it said aimed to thwart attacks by Hamas and other Gaza militants.

Hamas accuses Israel of violating the ceasefire and undermining efforts to implement a broader plan by US President Donald Trump to end the Gaza conflict, which also includes Israeli withdrawals and Hamas disarmament.

More than 1,300 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took effect last October, according to Gazan health officials, while the Israeli military says four Israeli soldiers have been killed.


Syria Kurdish Women Fighters Discuss Merger with Interior Ministry

Kurdish fighters gesture while carrying their parties' flags in Tel Abyad of Raqqa governorate after they said they took control of the area June 15, 2015. REUTERS/Rodi Said/Files
Kurdish fighters gesture while carrying their parties' flags in Tel Abyad of Raqqa governorate after they said they took control of the area June 15, 2015. REUTERS/Rodi Said/Files
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Syria Kurdish Women Fighters Discuss Merger with Interior Ministry

Kurdish fighters gesture while carrying their parties' flags in Tel Abyad of Raqqa governorate after they said they took control of the area June 15, 2015. REUTERS/Rodi Said/Files
Kurdish fighters gesture while carrying their parties' flags in Tel Abyad of Raqqa governorate after they said they took control of the area June 15, 2015. REUTERS/Rodi Said/Files

The Syrian Kurdish Women's Protection Units (YPJ) said on Thursday it had discussed with the interior ministry integrating their fighters into the government's forces.

The announcement came two days after the head of Kurdish fighters in Syria, Mazloum Abdi, announced the dissolution of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) -- which includes the YPJ -- under an agreement with Damascus.

The YPJ said in a statement that its leadership met on Wednesday with a delegation from the interior ministry, during which "the possibility of integrating the Women's Protection Units, as a special and organized force, into the structure of the interior ministry, was confirmed".

It said meetings would continue "in order to complete and finalize the integration process" as part of the agreement signed between Abdi and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in January, AFP reported.

After Syria's conflict erupted in 2011, Kurdish women fighters fought on the front lines against the ISIS terror group, particularly in the 2016 battle to drive the extremists from Raqa, their de facto capital in Syria.

The women fighters later took on administrative and security responsibilities at the Al-Hol and Roj detention camps in northeast Syria for relatives of suspected jihadists, including thousands of foreigners.

While former Kurdish fighters are to be integrated into Syria's army, the military does not currently accept women in its ranks.

A Kurdish military source told AFP on condition of anonymity that 1,500 women fighters would be integrated into an interior ministry force.

On Tuesday, Abdi announced the end of the SDF's mission and "their dissolution as an independent military force" following "the completion of the process of integrating our forces into the brigades of the Syrian army".

The move closes a key chapter for Syria's Kurds after the SDF, backed by a US-led military coalition, spearheaded the fight against ISIS at the height of Syria's civil war.

Kurdish officials have previously said that at the height of the conflict, women made up around a third of all Kurdish forces.

Syria analyst Nanar Hawach of the International Crisis Group earlier this year estimated the overall number of Kurdish fighters at 20,000 to 30,000.

The SDF was the de facto army of the semi-autonomous administration which the Kurds set up in north and northeast Syria after seizing territory battling ISIS.

But Washington has grown close to Syria's new authorities who overthrew longtime ruler Bashar al-Sharaa in December 2024.